Somewhere In Between
by thedeliverygod
Summary: Several years after walking out of her life, Yato and Yukine find themselves saved by Hiyori once again.


**So this is my longest one-shot ever lol. I also tried really hard to achieve a realistic depiction of Japanese culture in a lot of small ways, so I hope that shines through. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it!**

Somewhere In Between

' _Yato!_ '

With nearly all of his skin covered in blight save for a small patch of skin just below his right eye, he panted heavily as he moved into another battle stance, "Don't worry about me right now! There's still one phantom left."

The snake like creature lunged towards Yato and he barely managed to dodge it, moving out of the way just in time. As a second thought, he gave a weak swing with one of Sekki's blades in desperation, which only seemed to annoy the phantom rather than do any actual damage.

' _But your blight—_ ' His regalia hesitated.

"Focus, Yukine!" He started to dash forward again.

Yukine let out a small breath of air, ' _Right._ '

"You who would desecrate this land of the rising sun! With my advent, I, the Yato god, lay waste with the Sekki and expel thy vast defilement!" Yato leaped upward onto the phantom's back and crossed Sekki's blade into an X shape, easily cutting through the center of its body, "Rend!" The phantom disappeared into a bright burst of light and Yato immediately collapsed to the ground, managing to catch himself on one of his knees and an open palm. "R-revert, Yuki."

Regaining his human form, Yukine swiftly kneeled down and draped an arm around his master's middle, struggling to lift him up as he began to comment that they needed to find the nearest shrine as quickly as possible. However, both of them froze in place as they heard a familiar voice.

"Yato? Yukine-kun?"

"Hiyori?" Yukine questioned, his voice low and unsure. As she cautiously moved towards them and he knew for sure that it was her, his eyes lit up and he repeated her name loudly, "Hiyori!"

Yato was wide eyed, but he couldn't say a thing; there were too many thoughts spinning around in his mind and he was almost sure that he his breathing had ceased. It was definitely her, though her hair was a tiny bit shorter and her school uniform had been replaced with a pair of dark purple scrubs.

"It's nice to see you, Yukine-kun." Hiyori briefly greeted before kneeling down to support Yato's other side, "It's nice to see you too, Yato, but we need to get you cleaned up. There's a shrine not far from here." She helped Yukine to lift him up and he nodded silently.

Aside from her giving directions as they walked, all three were quiet. Hiyori focused on her walking and keeping Yato from slipping while Yukine kept stealing glances at her, taking in how much she'd changed while also thinking how much she stayed the same.

Yato, on the other hand, was still in a daze. If it weren't for the sharp pain of the blight, there'd be no way that he would ever believe that he wasn't dreaming. And it was only after Hiyori and Yukine had both began splashing purified water onto his skin that he finally found the strength to speak, "W-what are you doing here?"

Yukine stiffened, his eyes wide as he watched for Hiyori's response.

She didn't even flinch in the slightest, completely focused on continuing to scoop water onto Yato's blight, "I go to school here. I live here now." Her eyes flickered to Yato's, "Why are you here?"

He looked away and his jaw tightened, not wanting to answer. But Yukine answered for him.

"We're sort of back to wandering around." He admitted quietly, digging his feet into the dirt.

This finally made Hiyori pause, and her voice shook a bit as she continued, "Well, I know it's not as safe as a shrine, but you two could stay at my apartment for tonight if you'd like."

Yukine's lips parted, but his eyes moved to Yato, who he expected would refuse.

"…Okay." The god answered hesitantly, still avoiding her eyes.

"Great." She tugged on his jacket and he sheepishly unzipped it and pulled it off, letting her splash water against the neckline of the back of his shirt, "I've eaten already but I can make some dinner for you and Yukine-kun too."

Yato's face was already red and continued to darken as Hiyori lifted up his shirt to inspect his back, chest, shoulders, and forearms for any hidden blight. "We'd appreciate it." His voice barely managed to escape his lips.

Hiyori let go of his shirt and stepped back, "Okay, I think it's all gone. I'll put on some bandages on you when we get to my apartment." Yato nodded, slipping his jacket back on as she started to lead the way.

This time, Yukine broke the silence after only a minute or two. "How is school going?"

She smiled softly, "It's really hard at times and I'm pretty much always exhausted, but I'm doing well."

"So you're working with patients already?" He motioned towards her scrubs.

"Oh, yeah, a little bit. It's mostly just watching more experienced people work and taking notes at the moment." She gave a small laugh, "But it's important to get practical experience like that since things can be pretty unpredictable in reality."

Yukine hummed thoughtfully, "Hmm. That makes sense."

"What about you, Yukine-kun?" She tilted her head curiously, "Have you been keeping up with your studying?"

He reached behind his neck sheepishly, "Here and there. It's pretty hard without a teacher, but whenever we get some free time, I usually try to hang out in a library."

Guilt took over Hiyori's expression, "I'm sorry. But I'm glad you're still sticking with it."

He shook his head, "It's not your fault. It's not like you're the one who—" Yukine cut himself off with a quick glance towards Yato, who was now grimacing. When he looked back to Hiyori, she was biting her lip too, and he felt his heart sink down into his chest.

Letting out a sharp breath and clutching the top of his jacket, Yato warned him weakly, "Yukine…"

"I'm sorry." He immediately apologized and clenched his eyes shut, trying his best to clear his mind and to stop causing any more pain for Yato.

"We're almost there. We just have to take a left at the street sign, and then my building is just a few feet from there." She saw them both nod, but still felt the awkwardness and pain shared between them and tried to lighten the mood, "Um, I was just going to make some really simple ramen, is that okay? Since I'm always really busy and I live by myself, I don't keep a wide variety of things around."

"Anything's great!" Yukine answered enthusiastically.

"You live by yourself?" Yato finally spoke again.

She turned her head, "Yeah. Why?"

He blinked, trying to hide his frown, "What happened to your friends, the ones who you were always hanging out with?

"Ami-chan goes to another college that's an hour or so away. I still see Yama-chan sometimes, whenever we're both free. But our schedules can conflict a lot sometimes." She looked back at the street in front of her, carefully starting to turn onto the side street.

"But why live alone?" His voice rose, and she couldn't tell if it was in curiosity or frustration.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I study a lot better when I don't have to worry about other people, it's more relaxing, and I could afford to. The university is really close and there weren't many positives to staying in the dorms after last year so… Here I am." She waved her arm forward, motioning towards the stairs of a brick building, "I'm on the second floor."

Yato's eyes washed over the apartment building as they walked up the stairs, analyzing all of the details with scrutiny.

Rolling her eyes, she started up the stairs, "It's mostly other college students here, so every once in a while it'll get a little noisy, but usually everyone else is busy with their studying too." She walked a few doors down the hall before pulling out a key and unlocking the door. As she swung it open, she waved them in, "Home sweet home."

Poking his head through the door to see the kitchen nearly in the living room, a bathroom, and a tiny hallway that lead to her bedroom, Yukine commented, "Wow, this is only a little bigger than your old bedroom by itself."

Yato gave the younger boy a disapproving look but Hiyori giggled, "Yeah, but it's cozy." Closing the door behind them, she slipped off her shoes and waved them towards the living room, "I'm going to change out of my scrubs and grab some bandages, so make yourselves at home."

Once she was out of earshot, Yukine asked quietly, "So how long are we going to stay?"

"I don't know." Yato ran a hand through his hair, "Not long…"

His voice lowering even more, the blonde asked, "Are you going to be able to leave her again?"

Yato sat down by the table and let out a small huff, "I don't know, Yukine…" Between his own pain and his regalia's pain, he wasn't sure what he was feeling in his chest. But at the same time, there was the tiniest bit of happiness hidden within that. He thought he'd never see her again and now, somehow, he was sitting in her living room.

Both boys looked up as they heard the bedroom door creak open, Hiyori making her way back into the living room with several bandages in her hand. She was wearing her purple and white baseball tee; the same one she was wearing in several pictures on Yato's phone that he couldn't bring himself to delete. As she kneeled down to start patching, his breath hitched in his throat. His right hand had taken the worst damage, so she started there, first cleaning the various cuts with a disinfectant before wrapping the bandages over them. Next was his cheek, and he let out a small hiss and winced as she cleaned that wound.

"Sorry." She quickly apologized.

"Don't worry about it." He answered breathlessly.

She reached up, gently pressing a square shaped bandage against his cheek. She ran her fingers across the edges to make sure it would stay firmly attached and absently grazed her fingers across his skin for a moment before quickly pulling her hand back and standing up. "U-um, I'll go get started on dinner now." Her cheeks were red as she started to move away.

He thought about trying to catch her wrist, but he decided against it. Instead, he just spoke softly, "Thank you, Hiyori."

She blinked and her smile grew, finally hearing him say her name. "You're welcome." She gave him a small glance before ducking into the kitchen.

Yukine sat down close to Yato, a small, contented smile on his face. Stretching out and cracking his back by placing his open palms behind him, the god asked curiously, "What are you smiling about?"

He blinked and an expression passed over his face like he didn't even know he was smiling. "I guess I'm just comfortable." He let out a small sigh, "Even if it's only for a short time, I like it a lot."

Yato straightened out, hanging his head, "It's not like I don't. But you _know_ —"

"Yeah, I know. You don't have to keep reminding me. I'm just trying to enjoy it while it lasts; especially if this really is the last time." He answered in a mumble, leaving his master at a loss for words.

Yato closed his eyes, wondering if maybe he shouldn't have agreed to come here after all. Yukine did pose a good question before; _would_ he be able to leave her again? He knew in his head that they couldn't stay, but he knew leaving again was going to destroy whatever was left of him for a while and that Yukine was going to be an absolute mess too. Still, even knowing the consequences, he couldn't bring himself to say no to her either. Just the fact that she still remembered was enough, but for her to still care enough about them to be willing to take care of them like this was almost more than he could take.

"Here you go." He heard her slide the bowl onto the table and he blinked his eyes open to see her giving him a concerned stare, "Are you tired?"

"No." He shook his head, "Thank you for the food." Yukine echoed him before they both started to eagerly slurp through their meals.

Hiyori watched them with an amused smile for a moment, eventually flipping on the TV and starting to snack on a small box of crackers she had brought out to the table.

Yato definitely appreciated having the TV, as he now had something to keep his focus on without having to purposely avoid her.

His bowl nearly empty already, Yukine looked up, "Hey, Hiyori, would you mind if I used your bath?"

She turned away from the TV, "Not at all! I said to make yourself feel at home, remember?"

"Thanks. By the way, I can help you with the dishes." He continued to finish off his bowl after speaking.

She waved her hand, "That's okay, you don't have to. There's not that much."

"You made this for us, though. It's only fair." He answered back.

Hiyori relented and smiled, "Alright. If I can't stop you, then I'll let you wash your own dishes. But leave Yato's to me so he doesn't have to rush and so you don't have to wait on him to start your bath."

Yukine grasped the bowl in both of his hands and picked it up, smiling back, "I guess that's a fair plan."

Hiyori watched him get up from the table and as he walked to the kitchen before she turned her attention back to Yato, who was still eating slowly as he watched TV. Pushing herself up on her knees, she peeked over the table and into his bowl to see that he was almost done too.

"I can wash my own stuff too, you know." He caught her looking from the corner of his eye.

"You're hurt, so I want you to rest." She moved closer to him, her knee softly bumping into his underneath the table.

"I'm fine. It's not like I haven't had worse happen to me." He retorted quietly.

Hiyori huffed, "Well, you're still a guest. You shouldn't have to do your own dishes."

"What about Yukine, then?" He tilted his head towards the kitchen.

"He—" She started to answer before letting out a groan, "Will you please just let me take care of you? Doing the dishes would get your bandages on your hand wet and then you'd be possibly exposing yourself to bacteria."

"Bacteria, really?" He scoffed and shook his head, "I'm pretty sure that's a human problem."

Hiyori flushed, "Shut up and just let me do it!"

"Fine." He put his hands up.

She quickly grabbed his bowl and clutched it towards her chest in case he got any ideas about trying to grab it back. "Thank you." She let out a breath of air, "Now just try and relax, okay?" He looked back towards the TV and Hiyori moved towards the kitchen, passing Yukine on the way. "Take as long as you need." She smiled softly, "I have some of my older brother's clothes laid out on my bed. They might be a little too big, but I figured it would be nice for you just to have something clean to sleep in."

"Thanks, Hiyori." He flashed a grin before turning into the hallway.

Hiyori listened to the various voices coming from the TV and the sound of the shower starting as she rinsed the dishes thoroughly, wondering to herself why Yato would ever go back to the way it was before; living such a harsh and lonely life. Yes, he had Yukine now and their relationship was much better than it had been in the past, but it was still no way to live. By the time she had finished his dishes, she was about to burst with all of the questions that filled her mind.

"Why don't you stay with Kofuku-san and Daikoku-san anymore?" Was the first thing to escape her lips when she made it back to the living room and looked down at Yato, who was now laying on his side.

He looked up at her in surprise, struggling to let his voice out, "B-because it would have been too easy to see you again. To get you involved again." He sat up, his voice serious as he asked, "You never stopped seeing them, did you?"

She sat down across from him and her eyes welled with tears, "Of course not. I care about them too much." She wiped at the corner of her eye with her sleeve, "It was painful at first, knowing that you and Yukine-kun wouldn't be there. But the idea of never seeing those two either hurt even more."

His eyes flickered away from hers, a pang of guilt that was undeniably his own moving through his chest.

"I understand why you left. I know you want to believe what Tenjin-sama says and do what's best for me. But all of these times that you've considered cutting our ties or just avoiding me, you've never once asked me what _I_ wanted, Yato." Her voice rose and cracked, bringing his attention back to her, "I mean, yeah, you usually listened to me when I told you to stop at the last minute after you'd already made your own decision. But despite telling you repeatedly that you're my God of Fortune, that you and Yukine-kun mean the world to me, and that I want to keep being with you, you never seem to believe me. I understand why you were hesitant, and that I maybe gave you reasons to be unsure at first. But after more time passed and you still didn't trust me, it…it hurt, Yato. It still does." She held her clenched fist tightly against her chest.

"I wanted to believe you." He admitted in a quiet voice, "I always did. But I thought that even if you did want to be with us—with me, it still wasn't fair to you. You deserve to live a normal life where you're not constantly put in harm's way. It's my fault that you were brought into this in the first place, so I had to put my wants, and even yours, aside so that I could do what I needed to."

She shook her head fervently, "You didn't pull me into anything. I was the one who jumped out into the street to push you out of the way of that bus, and I was the one who kept getting into contact with you and getting myself into dangerous situations despite you telling me to stay out of it. Maybe it changed later on, and you got me into those sorts of situations too, but I wanted to be there because I care about you." She looked down into her lap, speaking quietly, "I honestly couldn't care less about having a normal life if it means not having you and Yukine-kun around. I know I can't make you stay, but I at least want you to know that."

Yato bit his lip and his throat was tight as he listened to her speak. "It was wrong of me. I'm sorry." He hung his head and spoke barely above a whisper, thinking that no matter what option he chose, it always seemed to be the wrong one. He wanted to make her happy, but he also wanted to keep her safe; and those two things seemed to not coincide with each other in the slightest.

Hiyori let out what seemed like a relieved sigh and he felt her slide over next to him, her hand resting on his upper back, "It's okay."

He relaxed his shoulders, closing his eyes again and taking in the little warmth he felt from where her body met against his. Finally, he lifted his head again, "Would you mind if we stayed here for a few days while I figure out what we're going to do?"

She blinked and a tear fell from her eye as she smiled, "I would love that."

Without even thinking , he reached up to wipe away her tear with his thumb. Once he realized what he did, he retracted his hand and blushed, "S-sorry. And thank you."

"Um." Hiyori pulled back her hand to her side and sat up straight, "I told Yukine-kun earlier, but there's some clean clothes sitting on my bed for you. It's old stuff that my brother didn't want any more that I use to just lounge around or if I do anything where I don't want to get my own clothes dirty, like when we were painting the house. Hopefully they'll fit and tomorrow I'll show you two where the laundry room is so you can clean your clothes."

"Thank you." He repeated again and nodded appreciatively. "So since you live here now, does that mean your parents sold your old house?" He wondered out loud.

She gave a slow nod, "Yeah. The train ride to the hospital is kind of inconvenient, but they couldn't refuse my grandmother's wish for our family to keep living in that house since it's been passed down for so many generations now. My brother got an apartment near the hospital though, so he can help out easily whenever he needs to. But it's been a long time since the incident involving all of those phantoms, so mostly everything is steady again and he's had a lot more time to get back to his artwork."

Though Yato made a face at the mention of what had happened in the past, he perked back up again as she finished, "That's good. I could tell how much he cared about art the first time I met him, so I'm glad he got that opportunity again."

Hiyori stared at him for a moment before letting out a small laugh, "I still can't believe that somehow out of everyone else in the world, my brother managed to call you."

"Well, he had to call _some_ sort of god, not just anyone can help a soul that's been trapped." He raised his hand to his chin, "Then again, I guess he could have called one of those human paranormal investigation groups…"

She shook her head, somewhat in disbelief and somewhat amused, "Well, they'd definitely charge a lot more than five yen."

"And that's why he called me." Yato pointed to himself, "Yukine keeps saying that I need to raise my prices, but that's basically taking advantage of desperate people."

"You don't need to charge _thousands_. Even just charging five hundred yen would go a long way and that's still a great deal for some of the stuff people ask us to do." His regalia butted in as he walked back into the living room, the waistband of his pants and his sleeves rolled up several times in order to stay on him.

"But that's not the point!" Yato fired back immediately.

But Hiyori changed the subject, smiling sympathetically, "Wow, those are definitely way too big on you, huh? I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. I mean, it's just to sleep in, so it doesn't really matter how it fits." He took a seat on the other side of Yato.

Hiyori let out a nervous laugh, "Well, speaking of sleeping, I should tell you guys that I only have one spare futon. So I'm going to let you two have the bed and I'll sleep out here in the living room." She stood up, on her way to go pull the futon out of the closet, but was quickly met with sounds of refusal.

" _What?_ No way, we can't do that!" Yato practically yelled, a frown taking over his expression.

Yukine was practically on the verge of jumping up to stop her as well, "But it's your house, Hiyori!"

She turned back around and let out a loud sigh, "If you both really hate it that much, then I can go buy another futon tomorrow. But for tonight, you don't have a choice."

The younger boy's eyes widened and he tilted his head curiously from the how it sounded like she was sure that they would be staying for at least multiple nights in order to consider something like that.

His master, though, was still extremely frustrated, "You shouldn't have to spend money on us. We can sleep on the floor. Or I can, and Yukine can have the futon."

"Yato, you're hurt. And neither of you have slept in a proper bed in a while from the sound of it. There's no way I'd let you sleep on the floor." She turned away from them, ignoring whatever other arguments they had for her as she ducked into her room to grab the futon. Dragging it out into the living room with a set of blankets and one of her pillows, she dropped everything and promptly laid down on top of it to make a point, "This is where I'm going to sleep and you can't make me move."

Before, Yato might have tried to pick her up or dragged her away by her feet. The thought still crossed his mind, but too much time had passed and even though he was starting to feel comfortable around her again already, he realized it would be inappropriate. "Fine, you win." He crossed his arms begrudgingly.

"Yato!" Yukine shot him a look of disbelief.

He shrugged, "Like you said, it's her house. She gets to make the decision."

Yukine bit his lip with a groan, still hesitant, "Ugh."

"Don't worry about me, Yukine-kun. This futon is really comfy, I'll be okay." Hiyori sat back up as she reassured him.

He relented and gave a small smile, "I guess it's okay… But he talks and moves around in his sleep a lot, so he better be quiet and keep his hands to himself." He gave Yato a stern stare.

"I'll promise that I will if _you_ promise to sleep with the light off." The god glared back.

"Yeah, right! Like you'd ever be able to keep that promise." Gritting his teeth, Yukine jumped up, "Anyway, I guess on that note, I'm gonna go to bed." He looked back with a softened expression, "Goodnight, Hiyori. Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome, Yukine-kun. Goodnight." She smiled brightly and watched him walk into her room, gently shutting the door behind himself. "So you guys still argue with each other a lot?" She turned back towards Yato, keeping her voice quiet but it was still obvious that she was amused.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I guess so. It might be less if I was able to give him more alone time."

"I'm sure you probably always will to some degree, but I guess that means it's a good thing for you two to be here. I can show him where the university's library is so he can spend time there if he wants since it's only a ten minute walk from here." She suggested excitedly as she looked up at him.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." He answered half-heartedly before switching into a more serious tone, "Look, Hiyori. I don't want you to neglect your classes or anything trying to help us out, okay?"

She parted her lips in surprise and let out a nervous laugh of her own, "I guess I do sound like getting ahead of myself. I'm just so happy to see you again. But don't worry, I'll make everything work."

Yato seemed unsure but gave a small smile anyway, "Okay."

"I really am fine living by myself, but it'll be nice to have someone to come home to after I'm done with classes tomorrow." She commented quietly as she fluffed her pillow and started to fix her blankets, looking back at him shyly, "I think I'm going to go to sleep too, but you can stay out here and watch TV if don't want to sleep yet. It won't bother me."

He turned his head, almost forgetting that it was even on until she mentioned it, "No, that's okay. Like you said earlier, I haven't had a real bed in a while so I'm looking forward to relaxing. I might even be so comfortable that I'll sleep like a rock and Yukine won't even have anything to complain about."

They both laughed for a moment before realizing how loud they were and quickly toning it down. Hiyori laid down and pulled the blanket up to her chest, her voice sweet as she looked back at him, "Goodnight, Yato."

"Goodnight, Hiyori." He answered before reaching for the remote to turn off the TV. After he put it back onto the table, he slowly stood up and made his way into the hallway. His hand hovering above the light switch, he noticed that she was still watching him and smiled to himself. Once the only light was coming from the cracks around the bedroom door and he could no longer see her outline, he moved forward and twisted the door knob. Grabbing the clothes Yukine had let fall to the floor when he got into bed, Yato shut the door and started to shed his track suit.

"So we're staying for a while?" Yukine asked quietly, not bothering to turn over.

Yato slipped on the sweatpants first, "I guess so. Until I can figure out what we should do."

"Yato." Yukine flipped over onto his back and sat up, his expression serious, "I heard a little bit of what you two were saying earlier. I don't think Hiyori will just give up if we leave without saying anything again."

He ditched his white t-shirt and slipped on the gray one, kicking his dirty clothes into the same corner where Yukine had left his. "Yeah, I know." He admitted in a soft voice as he slipped under the blankets on the opposite side of the bed.

"So what do you think you're going to do?" Yukine continued to stare him down, waiting.

"I don't know, that's why I need time to think." Yato closed his eyes, letting his head sink down into the pillow.

"If you say so." The regalia laid back down and turned the other way.

Just as he had said to Hiyori, Yato drifted off into sleep almost immediately and when he woke the next morning, sun was pouring into the room and the apartment was quiet. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stretched out his arms and yawned loudly. After glancing around the room, he noticed another stack of clothes on the nightstand, along with a towel, some bandages and a note. "Hmm." He hummed to himself, walking around the end of the bed and picking up the note.

 _Yato,_

 _I left out some clothes and new bandages in case you want to take a bath while we're out. I took Yukine-kun with me so that he can check out the library or sit in on classes with me. There's also some fresh fruit in the fridge if you'd like something for breakfast. We'll be back around 12:30!_

 _Hiyori_

He put the note back down and mumbled to himself as he walked out towards the kitchen, "Wow, I can't believe I slept through Yukine getting up, much less both of them leaving." He pulled open the fridge and grabbed some strawberries as well as a banana before making his way into the living room and turning the TV on. Flipping through the channels as he absentmindedly munched on strawberries, he eventually found one of the TV dramas he used to watch with Kofuku.

Not wanting to eat too many of Hiyori's strawberries, he closed the container and switched over to the banana. He had taken two small bites of it before he saw the main character of the show kiss a man he _never_ would have guessed she'd end up with and started to cough, nearly choking on his food. "Damn, she was right. I guess I owe Kofuku money."

He smiled as he stood up to go get water, thinking that he did really miss hanging out with her and getting scolded by Daikoku. Regardless of whatever happened with Hiyori, he figured it was probably time to pay them a visit again soon. After all, they were pretty much like family at this point.

After searching the cabinets for a glass, he filled it up with water and took a few gulps before he caught sight of the time on the microwave. "11:50." He put the glass in the sink as he read the time out loud, "Guess it'd probably be a good idea to get in the bath so Yukine and Hiyori don't judge me."

He hurried back into the bedroom and grabbed the clothes and towel before ducking back into the bathroom. Once he'd ditched his clothes, he stepped into the shower and reached out to turn the water on before he realized he'd forgotten his bandages. "Ugh." He made a noise of annoyance and stepped back out, carefully unwrapping the bandages from his hand. Though those came off relatively easy, the one on his cheek refused to be pulled off without making it feel like he was peeling off his own skin with it. "Ow, ow, ow…" He pulled it back slowly, giving a relieved sigh and throwing it roughly into the trash can once he'd finally gotten it off.

He showered quickly, the cooler water stinging his hand and cheek a bit, but it was the bath that he was really looking forward to. Once it had filled up with water and steam had started to fill the room, he lowered himself into the tub and smiled widely, "Ahhh…" It was so warm and relaxing, he was almost tempted to go back to sleep right then and there.

It'd been so long since he'd been able to be this comfortable and it was all thanks to Hiyori, once again. It truly felt like she was some sort of angel, always managing to show up whenever he found himself in the most desperate situations. "How many times has she saved me?" He asked himself, replaying various moments in his head.

He couldn't even begin to try and count.

He lowered his head into the water and resurfaced after a brief moment, reflexively pushing his hair out of his face with both of his hands. Immediately he felt the repercussions of his actions, feeling a sharp pain return to his right hand from the quick motion. He looked down and noticed his hand had started bleeding again, "Shit." And of course at that very moment, he heard the front door open, followed by the sound of Hiyori and Yukine's voices.

Jumping out of the bath and pulling the cover back down, he quietly made his way over to the shower, pulling the sprayer down and beginning to rinse his hand. Though it washed off the excess blood, it did nothing to stop the bleeding from continuing and Yato cursed under his breath that he hadn't thought to bring the bandages into the room with him. Once he dried himself off, he carefully put on the new clothes and wrapped the towel around his hand. He hurried out of the bathroom, hoping that he could maybe make a dash into the bedroom and back without calling too much attention to himself.

But he would never be that lucky, so he nearly knocked Hiyori over as he opened the door. She let out a small squeak as she fell back against the wall, and he immediately apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry, Hiyori!"

She exhaled and gave a small laugh, "It's okay."

His eyes scanning over her to make sure she was okay, he noticed that she had the bandages in her hands. Catching him staring, she held them out to him, "Oh, right. I was about to ask if you wanted Yukine-kun to bring these to you. Here you go."

"Thanks." He took them gingerly, "Uh, sorry about your towel… My hand started bleeding again and I didn't know what else to do."

Hiyori shook her head, "Don't worry about it, we'll just go do laundry as soon as you finish. Let me know if you need one of us to help put those on." He watched her retreat into the living room, briefly catching a glance of Yukine in the kitchen before he ducked back into the bathroom.

He wrapped his hand slowly and carefully, inhaling sharply a few times during the process before finally moving on to his cheek. Thankfully that cut was relatively small and seemed to be healing quickly from what he could see in the mirror. As he covered that cut, he remembered Hiyori's fingers skimming across his skin the previous night and sighed.

"I shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that." He muttered to himself, patting the bandage to make sure it was secure. Folding the bloodied towel carefully first, Yato scooped his dirty clothes into his arms as well.

When he opened the door, Hiyori immediately asked from the living room, "You ready?"

"Yeah." He headed for the front door, where he assumed they were waiting, and stopped next to Yukine. His regalia wore a pair of bright blue scrubs, which he assumed were probably Hiyori's. Though they fit much better than the clothes he'd worn to sleep, the pants still seemed a little bit big on him. "You gonna learn how to be a curer?" He asked with an amused smile.

"Well, I figured it wouldn't hurt to learn a few things like that. Especially for situations like when Takemikazuchi cut into your shoulder; I had absolutely no idea what I was doing back then." He shifted the dirty laundry in his arms until he got a better grip on everything.

"I guess if you're my one and only shinki, you do have to be a little bit of everything, huh?" Yato answered back.

Yukine nodded, "Since I'm your exemplar, I've gotta protect you in whatever way possible, so yeah. Books are great for most things, but like Hiyori said, sometimes it's best to see stuff happen for real, so hopefully I'll learn a bit by tagging along with her."

"You never cease to amaze me, Yukine." He gave a grin and his regalia looked away sheepishly.

"Thanks."

Hiyori watched them both with a wide smile for a moment before swinging open her door and leading them out, "The laundry room's just downstairs."

They followed her to a metal door with a small glass window, where she pulled a card out of her pocket and swiped it through a reader to the side of the door to let them in. "Nice." Yukine commented as they walked into the room, stopping just in front of a washer. He moved all of his laundry to one arm with slight difficulty, reaching down to pull on the handle only to find it wouldn't budge, "What gives?"

"You have to pay for it, Yukine-kun." She held out a few coins.

"Oh, that kinda sucks." He blinked before taking the coins and inserting them into a slot at the top of the washer.

"A little bit. But it's still better than having to walk into town to find a laundromat." She pulled open a slot on the front and placed a detergent pod into it, "Can't forget this, either!"

"Thanks." He smiled appreciatively before trying to pull the washer door open again, this time with success. After throwing his clothes in, he stepped back so Yato could do the same.

Hiyori put a few coins and another detergent pod into the washer next to them as well, "And the towels can go into this one." The boys both threw their things into it and she hit the start button on both washers, "Now we wait for about thirty minutes, so let's go back upstairs and get some lunch."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Yato started loudly, causing Hiyori and Yukine both to look back at him, "After eating and hanging up our laundry, I've actually got a job I need to go do. Or I guess I should say Yukine's got a job to do and I'll supervise. Since it's cleaning a bathroom and my hand's messed up, you've gotta do the heavy lifting this time." He looked down to his regalia as they made their way back up the stairs.

"What? Couldn't you have told them to wait another day or two?" Yukine sighed heavily, already hating the idea.

Yato waved a finger, "That's bad business! Besides, they can't wait; they have relatives coming over for the first time in a while tomorrow morning."

The boy groaned again but agreed, "Okay…"

"How long do you think that'll take?" Hiyori tilted her head curiously with a glance towards Yato.

"It might be a while, but not more than a few hours. We'll definitely be back by dinner." He winked.

She hummed and nodded, turning to her door to unlock it, "Alright." As they stepped back into the apartment, she shrugged and motioned forward, "Honestly, help yourselves to whatever you can find."

"I think I'll have one of those frozen dinner things I saw earlier." Yukine slipped into the kitchen.

Yato followed after him, grabbing what seemed like everything in her fridge and putting it onto bread to make a sandwich. "Don't you think that's a little much?" Hiyori laughed nervously, making her own smaller sandwich.

He shook his head and took a bite, his mouth full as he answered, "Nope."

"You have weird taste." She gave him a look before making her way over to the living room table with her plate.

He ignored her comment and gobbled down the rest of his food without leaving the kitchen, making sure to leave his dirty plate in the sink untouched since she forbade him to do any dishes yesterday.

Yukine's food had only just finished cooking by the time Yato sat down in the living room, and Hiyori was half way finished with her sandwich as well. "I feel like that took forever." He carried the tray carefully by its edges, walking towards them.

She nodded, "That's the thing with those, they're great when you don't have the energy or time to cook, but they still feel like they take a long time because you're so hungry by the time it finishes."

"Guess so." He sat the tray down on the table and gently blew on it a few times, trying to cool it off. Looking up to see her finishing off her sandwich, Yukine tilted his head, "Hey, Hiyori… I just noticed you haven't been in your half-phantom form the entire time we've been here."

"Mm!" She made a noise and swallowed before clapping her hands together excitedly, "I've been meaning to show you." She laid down on her back and her soul slipped out shortly afterward, standing over them. "I can completely control it now!" She grinned widely and her tail swung happily behind her, "I finally perfected it shortly after starting classes at college, which is great because I was terrified of losing my body during something important."

"That's great! Good job, Hiyori." Yukine beamed as well.

Yato was intrigued, but still a little skeptic, "You don't leave your body often though, right?"

She shook her head, "Just enough to make sure that I get practice and don't lose control of it again. I mostly just do this around my apartment when my body's really tired but I still need to get work done."

"So you can pull all-nighters without actually pulling all-nighters. Nice." He gave a small chuckle.

Hiyori laughed too, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Well, that's good, then. I'm happy for you." He scratched his head, "Sorry I couldn't fix it for you. I can give you your five yen back if you want."

Her eyes widened and she blinked a few times before she waved her hands out in front of her, "No, no. You've done so much for me that I honestly probably owe you money. So don't worry about that one wish."

"We owe _you_ , Hiyori. I mean, even for what you're doing right now by letting us stay here. And you've done so many things for us in the past, too." Yato answered automatically and Yukine lifted his head, distracted from his food now that the conversation had suddenly turned serious.

Hiyori parted her lips, but was unsure of what to say. First closing her eyes and exhaling, she smiled and suggested, "How about we agree to call it even and to stop keeping score?"

"U-uh… Sure, okay." He nodded sheepishly, looking off into another corner of the living room.

"That goes for you too, Yukine-kun." She turned her head towards him.

The younger boy looked back down at his food, blushing, "Right."

"Now that that's settled, I guess I should wake myself up." Yukine went back to eating while Yato watched her kneel down and sink back into her body. As she sat up, she rubbed her eyes and gave a small laugh, "I feel like I could use a nap now, almost like I interrupted myself."

Yato motioned towards her bedroom, "Go ahead. I mean, we're about to leave for that job I mentioned earlier whenever Yukine finishes eating."

She tapped her finger against the table in thought, "I guess that's not a bad idea. I'll just set an alarm so I can squeeze in homework before you come back." She pulled her phone from her pocket and gave it a few taps before she stood up, "I'll see you guys later." They both waved before she went into the bedroom and closed the door.

"Yato," Yukine called, his mouth full of food, "You forgot about the laundry."

"Crap." He jumped up and walked over to the door, knocking gently.

Her voice answered almost immediately, "Come in." She was seated on the side he'd been sleeping on, the covers pulled back and her legs dangling over the edge as she looked at him.

He stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed, "Could I borrow that card for the laundry? We'll be really quiet and hang everything up quickly so that way you don't have to get up."

"Okay." She smiled appreciatively before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the card, holding it out to him as she said, "Here."

"Thanks." He took a step forward and took it before walking out of the room, leaving the door cracked and promising, "I'll close it all the way when we're about to leave." As he came back into the living room, he saw Yukine had finished his lunch and was on his way out of the kitchen. "I've got this." Yato held out the card, "We just need to be quiet going out onto Hiyori's porch, I told her to just stay in bed."

Yukine nodded, "Okay."

Swiftly making their way downstairs and back, Yato gave another light knock of the door before they entered the room with their wet clothes, using his foot to close the door once they had made it through. Hiyori was now under the blankets, smiling at them sleepily as they passed before she closed her eyes again. Though it didn't take long to hang their clothes, Yato noticed she seemed to be sleeping peacefully by the time they were done.

"Let's go." He flipped open his cell phone and a bright light surrounded them for a moment until they found themselves in the middle of an empty street.

"Uh, so where's this house?" Yukine twisted around a few times before giving the god a questioning look.

"I made it up." Yato stuffed his hands into the pockets of his borrowed pants as he began to walk, "We're just down the street from Hiyori's apartment."

Yukine's shoulders fell and he rushed after Yato, "So what are we doing here exactly?"

"I need your opinion; and I mean purely as my exemplar, not as yourself. I know most of the time you're great at making that distinction, but since this involves Hiyori, I know that can make it difficult." He kept walking, lowering his head but continuing to focus on the road in front of him.

Yukine nodded, his face solemn, "Alright."

Yato turned down a small gravel path that led into a park, a few kids playing as their parents watched on. Coming to a large tree, he finally stopped and turned to look at Yukine directly, "What do we do from here? I think Hiyori has made it clear that she's not going to stop interacting with the far shore. And like you said, if we leave again, she'll probably come looking for us." He looked down and bit the inside of his cheek, "It seems like the only way to let her live normally is to forcibly cut her ties with us and I'm not sure I can do that. But the only other option is continually putting her in harm's way. All I want is to find a way to keep her happy and safe, do you think something like that even exists?"

It was clear Yukine was listening, but the question he asked in response seemed to come out of left field, "I know you're worried about Hiyori's wellbeing, but is that the only reason you've been trying to push her away?"

His mouth dropped, confused, "What do you mean?"

"When it seemed impossible, you were obsessed with the idea of you and Hiyori being together in any way possible." He rolled his eyes but gave a small smile as he continued, "To be honest, you wouldn't shut up about it. But any time she showed her feelings towards you in the slightest, that's when you started to push away. At least until she made it absolutely clear that she meant what she said."

"Well, yeah. She shouldn't even know about the far shore, much less be friends—" He hesitated, his voice catching, "Or anything else with gods and regalias. I never meant for her to get this involved. I was just supposed to fix her body and be done with her; to grant the wish and move on, just like I do with everyone else. But I was so desperate for any sort of connection that I just let it keep going."

Yukine shook his head, "Remember what her grandmother said? I think Hiyori was going to be involved with the far shore regardless of whether or not she met you, Yato. Anyway, you still haven't answered me. Is protecting her the only reason? Because I think you're scared." He put his hands on his hips, waiting for a response.

"Scared?" Yato repeated and Yukine nodded.

"Scared of how you feel about her—and how she feels about you. Not about the whole god and human thing and how that would even work, but scared of being hurt. Scared of her willingly wanting to say goodbye if you drift apart or if she just changes her mind one day, things like that."

The god's face and ears started to turn red as he listened, admitting sheepishly, "I-I guess those things are true too, but it's not like one reason is stronger than the other as to why I've been trying to distance myself from her. It's a mix of everything."

"Then I'll give you the same advice you've given me. Put your feelings out there instead of holding them in, because that only hurts both of you." Yukine held his hand to his chest, "I know it's not the same as how it works between you and me, but it's still true. Hiyori told you that she doesn't want to cut ties with you and she's told you multiple times that she wants to spend more time with you. She's always told you what she wanted, even if you didn't listen. I think it's only fair that you tell her how you feel in return, as well as your concerns. Once you talk about that with her, I think you'll be able to make the best decision then."

Yato let out a breath of air and smiled, "Thank you, Yukine. As always, you have a way with words."

"Just speaking honestly." He rubbed the back of his neck.

He stepped forward and put his hand on Yukine's shoulder, the younger boy looking up at him as he spoke, "I was thinking this morning… No matter what happens with Hiyori, we should go back to Kofuku's place for a while. Having at least some semblance of stability would be nice, don't you think?"

His face lit up and he nodded eagerly, "Please! I've had enough of this stray god stuff. Especially when you've got a shrine that's waiting on you."

"Alright, then it's settled." Yato gave a soft smile and dropped his hand back to his side. Yukine leaned forward and gave him such a brief hug that he wasn't even sure if it happened until he looked at him and saw how sheepish he looked.

"Thank you." The regalia muttered, a slight hint of pink in his cheeks.

Yato blinked, still in shock, "Uh, you're welcome." He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone to check the time. "Hey, let's walk around the park a few times before going back so Hiyori won't get suspicious. Plus, she's probably working on her homework by now, so don't want to interrupt."

"So when exactly are you planning on talking to her?" He turned back towards Yato.

The god shrugged, "I guess later tonight?"

"Okay, good." Yukine started to walk away, "I thought you were going to try and push it off."

Yato followed him and shook his head, "No, I don't want to impose on her much longer. I still hate that she's sleeping on that futon."

"Yeah, me too." He nodded in agreement, "Still, I kinda wish we could spend a little more time there." Yato gave him a look and he threw his hands up, "What? I thought my exemplar speech was over. Can't I give my personal opinion now?" He cracked a smile.

Yato laughed, "Yeah, I guess so. Though I can't say I'm surprised…" They continued to walk around the park, joking with each other until Yato finally deemed it time to go back as the sky started to turn pink.

Just as they appeared in Hiyori's living room, they heard her voice announce, "You're just on time!" They looked over to see her closing her front door, some paper bags and her keys in her hands, "I really need to go grocery shopping, so I figured I'd just get some fast food for tonight. I'll go shopping tomorrow after classes, I promise. I hope burgers are okay."

"You're really spoiling us now, Hiyori." Yato teased before heading into the kitchen, "I'll get some water. Yukine, you should relax."

"O-oh, yeah." He mumbled sheepishly, sitting down at the table.

Hiyori put the bags of food in the middle and sat down as well, smiling softly as she asked, "Yato didn't work you too hard, did he?"

"I'll be okay." He gave a nervous laugh, "I just probably need to go to sleep early again. My back is killing me." Yukine lied, rolling one of his shoulders for effect.

"Poor Yukine-kun." Hiyori frowned, looking over to Yato as he placed the glasses of water onto the table, "You helped him at least a little bit, I hope."

Yato took a seat, answering simply, "As much as I could." As he looked over to her, he noted her hair looked a little damp and she had changed into more casual clothes, realizing she must have taken a bath while they were out as well.

"That's all that matters, then." Hiyori clapped her hands together and gave a slight bow, "Thanks for the food." As she started to search through the bags for her food, Yato and Yukine echoed her.

"So did you finish your homework?" Yato grabbed the other bag, pulling a burger from the bag and wasting no time in starting to eat.

"Mhm! Since I just had mid-terms not too long ago, the homework hasn't been so bad lately." She took a bite from her burger and swallowed before continuing, "But I'm sure that won't last for much too much longer. Oh, by the way, I brought in all of your clothes earlier too. It's supposed to start raining soon, so I didn't want them to get dirty again."

Yato smiled softly, "Thanks, you didn't have to do that."

"No problem. Besides, I figured you'd both be tired by the time you got back." She shook her head.

"How were midterms?" Yukine asked curiously from across the table.

She let out a small laugh, "Really exhausting… But I survived, and I did well on all of them. So I'm happy." She took another bite, "Yama-chan and I tried to help each other study, but it's hard when you have so many different classes. I met up with some study groups sometimes too, but I feel like people get easily distracted when there's so many of us."

Yukine nodded understandingly, "So that's why you said that you study better by yourself."

"Yeah. But sometimes it is really useful to see things from another person's perspective, so I make sure that I still do some group studying every once in a while." Yato sipped on his water, watching her as she spoke and her eyes latched on to his. "You're done already?"

"Oh, yeah." He picked up the wrapper and made his way to the trash can.

She blinked, "I swear, you're lucky that you don't have to deal with things like stomachaches, because you would definitely have them if you could. You eat way too fast."

"Sorry, Dr. Hiyori." He stuck his tongue out at her as he made his way back to the table and she immediately turned a shade of pink.

"It has nothing to do with what I'm studying! I've told you that for years now." She gave him a small glare.

"She's right, you know." Yukine piped in, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.

Yato rolled his eyes as he sat back down, "Yeah, yeah." Hiyori and Yukine ignored him and went back to eating their food, so he reached across the table to flip the TV. Once it switched on, a news anchor's voice filled the room.

Hiyori figured that he would immediately change the channel, but when he didn't, she asked in a mumble, "Since when do you watch the news?"

Unflinching, he kept his eyes on the TV, "Sometimes you can tell certain things were caused by storms, so I try to keep an eye out. I just usually check on my phone."

"Oh." Her lips parted in surprise and she looked down, slightly embarrassed.

Yukine finished his food shortly after, announcing as he got up, "I'm gonna relax in the bath for a while and then I'm probably just going to bed after that."

"Okay." Hiyori answered loudly and Yato simply nodded. As Yukine finished throwing away his trash and made his way to the bathroom, she finished eating the last of her dinner. After she had thrown the last of her trash out, she smiled as she walked back towards the table, "It seems like you two must have had fun today. Even if he's tired, Yukine-kun seems like he's been in a much better mood today."

Yato turned his head and watched her as she sat down, "Maybe a little bit, I guess. But a lot of it's thanks to you, Hiyori. Aside from letting us stay here, it seemed like he really enjoyed going to your classes with you."

She nodded and smiled a little wider, "He wants to go again tomorrow, but I have a really long lab and I'm sure he'll get bored. But I guess the good thing is that he can leave whenever he wants to, unlike me."

"I dunno, it takes a lot to bore that kid." He put his elbow on the table and leaned into his hand, the tips of his fingers going into his hair.

"Believe me, I think this class will do it. I don't usually get bored either, but this professor's lectures are so boring and the practicals aren't much better." She folded her arms on top of the table and laid her head down, the very thought of the class seeming to exhaust her.

"We'll see." He an amused smile before looking back at the TV, letting a comfortable silence take over for a few minutes before he looked back at her. "I need to talk to you about something, Hiyori." He scratched his head, "About a few things, actually."

She turned back to him, a lump in her throat as she answered nervously, "O-okay, go ahead."

"We'll probably only be here for another day or two." He looked down into his lap shamefully, "I know you were happy to see us, but we're an extra burden that you didn't plan on, so I don't want to overstay our welcome."

"Yato," She inhaled sharply, her expression pained, "You're not a burden! Don't—"

He reached across the table, his finger a few inches from her lips as he shushed her, "Hold on, Hiyori. Let me finish." She let out a sigh and looked at him impatiently until he continued, "When we leave, we'll just be going back to Kofuku's. I haven't talked to her about it yet, but I doubt she'll say no. And Daikoku might refuse me, but he can't say no to Yukine."

She giggled and her shoulders relaxed, feeling a wave of relief wash over her, "You can stay here for as long as you need to, so please don't worry about inconveniencing me. But I'm sure Kofuku-san and Daikoku-san will be happy to have you whenever you do leave. I'll miss you two either way, but it does make me feel significantly better knowing that you have a place to stay."

Yato nodded, "I know Yukine misses them a lot and honestly, I do too. But also, more than anything, he deserves stability. I've taken that away from him for far too long now." He bit his lip, "I've got such a great Hafuri Vessel and guide post, but I keep putting him in these shitty situations when he deserves so much better."

"But Yukine-kun wouldn't want you to go through hard times by yourself. You can't think that you only deserve him as your shinki when everything's working out the way you want it to, because he's committed to being with you through both the good and bad times. I know you'd rather have there be more good times, we all do, but it can take a lot of time and work to get there." She paused, spreading out her hands, "I mean, look at everything you've accomplished already, just in the time that I've known you. Your father was the biggest thing holding you back for such a long time, but now that he's out of the picture, things can only get better from here. You just have to keep looking up and moving forward. Along with Yukine-kun, you've got so many others who'll support you no matter what. Kofuku-san, Daikoku-san, Bishamon-san, Kazuma-san, Ebisu-san…"

"You?" He finished for her.

"Yeah, me too." She took a breath and her voice lowered, "Even if I have to do it from afar."

Yato swallowed heavily, "Uh, that was one of the other things I wanted to talk about."

"You made your mind up about what you're going to do?" She felt her heart drop in her chest and she gripped the fabric of her pants tightly in her fist.

He shook his head, "No, there's some stuff I wanna say first. I'm not sure I'll be able to make a definite decision within the next week, much less tonight."

"I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or not, to be honest." Hiyori admitted with a nervous laugh.

"I know, I'm sorry." They heard the bathroom door creak open and they both turned their heads.

Yukine poked his head out first and gave a small smile before stepping out and closing the door, "Goodnight."

"Night." Yato gave a small wave of his hand.

"Goodnight, Yukine-kun. I'll get you up at seven if you still want to come with me tomorrow." She reminded him in a soft tone.

"Definitely, yeah. Thanks." He gave a small bow before retreating into the bedroom.

Hiyori turned back towards Yato sheepishly, "Um, I guess just go ahead and say whatever you need to say."

He let out a breath before he stood up and walked around the table, taking a seat next to her. Once he had locked his eyes onto hers, he started to talk, "Before, when you guessed why I left, you only got half of it right."

"Huh?" She blinked and squinted curiously, "So what's the other reason?"

"I was scared—no, I'm still scared that I'll lose you even if I continue to spend time with you. That I'll push you away unknowingly or that you might just change your mind someday. Hiyori, I-I'm in love with you and I have been for a long time. But I've just been so unsure because of all the uncertainties that come with that. That's why I've pushed you away so many times." He reached out to place his hand atop of hers, "Because the closer you get to me, the more impossible it becomes to have to say goodbye in any sort of way. The closer you get, the harder it becomes for me to not want to be selfish. Because if it were up to me, I would drop all of my responsibilities and just spend all of my time with you and Yukine. To just laugh and do whatever we wanted to do."

"Yato," She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, the weight of her body pressing against his as she hid her face against his shoulder, "I don't really have any answers, because I honestly worry about a lot of the same things. But I guess I've always been selfish, because I've never been able to let you go, even if it maybe was the best decision."

He felt what he guessed were tears beginning to seep into his shirt and wrapped his arms around her tightly, "Hiyori… You're allowed to be selfish. I'm the one that's supposed to know better. And I know Yukine is trying his best to be my guide post without any bias, but he cares about you a lot, too."

"What did he say to do?" She asked with a small sniffle, turning her head to look at him.

"To tell you everything, like I just did. And that after that I'd be able to make the best decision. But honestly I feel like I'm more conflicted than ever." He let out a sigh and his shoulders fell.

Hiyori suddenly pulled away and stood up, hurrying over to the kitchen counter and beginning to dig through her purse.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking advantage of your position as a god." She pulled something out and started walking back towards him.

He squinted and looked at her like she was crazy, "What?"

She kneeled back down and turned over his hand, pushing a five yen coin into his palm. Bowing and clapping twice, she closed her eyes, "I wish that Yato and his regalia Yukine-kun could continue to spend time with me, whenever they can spare it, and that all of their future conflicts may be solved easily." She opened her eyes and Yato was wide-eyed. She gave a mischievous smile, "No refunds, remember? You can't make an exception just because I was your first repeat customer."

"H-Hiyori…" His throat was dry, "Just because you wish for something doesn't mean I can always grant it."

"I know that, but please try," She parted her lips but hesitated, her cheeks turning red as she finished, "…Yato-sama."

" _Yato-sama_!? _"_ He repeated in disbelief and she turned away. He let out another sigh, but it was followed by a soft smile, "Damn, you must be really desperate to suck up to me like that."

Hiyori let out a low growl, "Yeah, well, I thought you'd appreciate it more."

Yato slid quietly towards her and wrapped his arms around her again, resting his chin on top of her shoulder and speaking into her ear, "Your wish has been heard loud and clear, Hiyori Iki." She shivered from the ticklish feeling of his voice against her skin and he let out a laugh at her expense, "Any other wishes you'd like me to grant?" She shrugged him off and his face fell as he lowered his arms back to his sides, thinking he had upset her.

"No, I don't think a wish is necessary." She whirled around and positioned herself between his legs, her face just a few inches from his as she looked up into his ice blue eyes with determination. He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow until she moved one of her hands to his cheek, repeating the same sort of motion that she had done the night before just above the bandage. Once he had relaxed, she moved that hand to his neck and the other to the back of his head, urging him to lean forward.

He closed his eyes and followed her direction until their lips met. He kissed her eagerly, reaching out to pull her closer to him. She clung onto him tightly as she kissed him back, lifting herself upward as he pulled. "I love you, too, Yato." She let out breathlessly in between kisses, "I'm sorry that I didn't say it earlier."

"You didn't need to." He kissed her cheek and then a spot just between her jaw and neck, his laugh bouncing off of her skin, "Not after you actually said Yato-sama. Which, by the way, would be nice to hear again."

"Don't push your luck." She quickly huffed in response, her heart racing in her chest.

"I already am." He overtook her again and she easily came undone as he licked her lower lip. At the same time, his uninjured hand wandered upward to slowly comb through her long hair as she timidly began to explore his mouth in return. As he reached her neck, his fingers ghosted across her throat and collarbone, earning a gasp from Hiyori. Intrigued, he peppered kisses along her jaw until he made it to the same path that his hand had taken. She let out a few more quiet gasps and even moans as his lips and tongue traced the neckline of her shirt.

"Y-Yato," She nearly panted his name out and her blush grew from the sound of her own voice.

"Hm?" He hummed against her, not bothering to look up.

"Yato." She called again, this time her voice a bit stronger. This time he lifted his head, giving her a curious stare. "We should stop." She lowered her hands to rest on his shoulders, "I've got class tomorrow so I've got to go to sleep soon. And I don't want to wake Yukine-kun up, either."

He sat up straight and placed his hands in his lap, "Sorry, I didn't know you'd be loud."

Hiyori punched him roughly in the shoulder closest to her, " _Shut up_!"

"Ow!" He winced and pouted at her, "C'mon, it's not like it's a bad thing."

She pulled her arms into her lap forcefully, "Yato, seriously shut up or I'm going to kill you."

"Hiyoriiiii…" He whined and reached out to her.

But she dodged his hand and stood up, moving to her futon, "Please go to bed."

"Just one last thing, I promise." She watched him cautiously as he made his way over to her, but he just gave her a very chaste peck on the lips, "Goodnight."

At that, she softened again, "Goodnight."

Yato slipped into the bedroom and closed the door, whispering loudly, "Yukine." Hearing no response, he slid under the blanket and elbowed the younger boy, "Yukine!"

He woke up with a groan, turning his head to glare at Yato, "What the hell is your problem?"

"I kissed Hiyori!" The god answered giddily.

Yukine gave him a tired stare, still annoyed, "Okay, so… What are you doing to do?"

"She wished for us to keep seeing her and paid me five yen. So that's what we've gotta do, right?" He took out the coin and held it above him, moonlight catching its metallic shine.

Yukine glanced at it too before looking up at the ceiling, "Well, you've always managed to pull off every other wish you've gotten from everyone else."

"So it wouldn't be fair to say no to Hiyori's wish is what you're saying. Now that she's officially made her wants into a wish, I have a duty to fulfill them, right?" He rotated the coin between his fingers.

"I guess so." His regalia nodded.

Yato put the coin back into his pocket, smiling to himself. "Yato." He turned his head to look at the younger boy again.

"Going back to what you said about having a way to keep Hiyori safe _and_ happy, I think the safest thing _is_ having us around. I'm dedicated to protecting her just as much as you are, so I really do think that this is the best option. Besides, it's not like she's defenseless on her own, either. She's kicked your ass more times than I can count."

He rubbed his shoulder, still feeling the effects of her punch, "That she has…"

"So you'll stop moping around just see her whenever you want to now?"

"Yeah." He closed his eyes happily, reveling in that thought.

Yukine turned over, "Finally."

Yato nudged his shoulder again, "No more hugs for me, Yukine? Aren't you happy we're going to keep seeing Hiyori?" Yukine kicked his leg at full force and he let out a loud yell.

"Is everything okay?" Hiyori called out from the living room, her voice somewhat hoarse as she'd probably been pulled from the depths of her sleep.

"Yeah, Yato just tried to grab me in his sleep and I kicked him off!" Yukine quickly improvised.

She took a moment to answer, sounding unsure, "Um, okay."

"You're so mean to me." Yato whined quietly and his regalia rolled his eyes.

"You'll get over it. Go to sleep."

"Fine." He turned over in the other direction, reaching down to rub his leg, "But between the phantom, Hiyori, and you, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna have any use of my limbs tomorrow." Yukine ignored him, closing his eyes and sinking into the pillow. Once silence had taken over the room, Yato smiled to himself again and let the warmth of the blankets lull him to sleep.

The next morning he woke up to the sound of hushed whispers and things being shuffled around. "It wouldn't be the worst thing if we woke him up. He's gonna get lazy again if he sleeps in too much." He heard Yukine's voice and blinked his eyes open to see Hiyori halfway in the closet, dropping her clothes into the hamper.

"I know, but I don't want to be rude either." She turned to exit the closet and Yato caught her hand, startling her. She looked down and let out a breath of air once she realized it was him, smiling.

"Morning." He let go of her and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Yukine turned around with a small smirk on his face, commenting, "Good, you're up."

"For now, I might go back to sleep after you leave." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Tsch," He rolled his eyes, "Just wait until your hand is healed up and we can go back to working normally."

"Duly noted, Yukine." He answered sarcastically, his tone changing as he moved onto another subject, "So what time are you getting home today?"

She blinked and looked up in thought, "I'll be done with classes at 1:50, but I still need to go grocery shopping so I guess it'd be around 3:00?" She finished in an unsure tone, "That's why I told Yukine-kun that he can leave whenever, because it's probably going to be a really long day."

He nodded, "Alright, I'll probably call Kofuku in a bit when I know she's up. Other than that, I guess I'll just lay around, watch TV, and wait for you to get back." He stretched himself out, yawning loudly.

"You know you can leave the apartment if you want to." Hiyori gave him a look and put her hand on her hip.

Yato shook his head, "Injured and regalia-less? Nope. That's basically asking for trouble, so I'm gonna stay _right_ here." He patted the bed for emphasis.

"Right…" She pulled out her phone and hit the home button to check the time, "We should start walking, Yukine-kun."

The blonde gave a small wave before walking out of the room, "See you later, Tracksuit."

"Brat." Yato mumbled under his breath before he realized that Hiyori had yet to move, looking up at her curiously.

"Um…" She fiddled with the hem of her shirt before leaning down to kiss his cheek and quickly turning to leave, "I'll see you later."

He beamed widely as he watched her leave the room, "See ya, Hiyori." Hearing the front door click shut, he fell backwards onto the bed and exhaled, wondering to himself, "Do I wanna get up or go back to sleep?" He shut his eyes and tried to relax, but the sunlight that was penetrating the room was beginning to become a little too much. "Alright, I guess I'll get up then." He groaned as he sat up again, dangling his legs off the side of the bed and letting his feet fall to the floor.

"Hmm. I guess if Hiyori's gonna go grocery shopping anyway, I can finish off those strawberries." He smiled mischievously, quickly making his way for the kitchen. After grabbing the container, he plopped down onto the living room floor and turned on the TV. A meteorologist appeared on screen, talking about the quickly rising temperatures and Yato sighed, popping a strawberry into his mouth, "It's gonna get unbearably hot soon…"

He rested his chin in his hand, continuing to mindlessly eat the strawberries as the morning news cycled through traffic reports and a few short reports, the longest one being about a local business that was shutting down. When he finally looked down, there were already only three strawberries left. "Hmm." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, flipping it open and searching through his contacts to send Hiyori a text.

 _I ate all of your strawberries._ Even though he wasn't quite done yet, it was close enough. He waited a few minutes before he heard his phone make a chime.

 **Really? All of them?**

He smiled and bit into another one.

 _Yep_ _sorry_

He waited another few minutes.

 **I guess I'll get some more but they better last more than two days.**

 _I wont eat as much if you provide me with other distractions ;]_

 **I'll make sure to rent some movies.**

 _Ha ha very funny_

His phone went silent for over ten minutes, so he figured that her class had probably started. Scrolling through his contacts again, he stopped at Kofuku and hit the call button.

It rang a few times before he heard a high pitched voice answer, "Hello!"

"Hey, Kofuku, it's me." He sat up and she let out a squeal so loud that he had to hold the phone an arm's length away from his ear.

"YATO-CHANNNNN! I haven't heard from you in so long!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry about that." He scratched his head sheepishly, "But listen, the situation with Hiyori's changed so Yukine and I would like to stay with you guys again, if you would have us."

She let out another short squeal, "Of course, of course! You and Yukki are welcome any time. But before you come over, tell me what you mean about the situation changing with Hiyorin!"

"We sort of ran into her on accident and we've spent the past couple days here at her apartment. Long story short, she made a wish for us to keep in contact with her so she's officially stuck with us." He finished with a laugh.

"Hiyorin's so clever!" Kofuku commented mischievously, "But you sure sound really happy, Yato-chan; like something else happened."

He exhaled, amused, "You sure don't miss a thing, Kofuku."

"Tell me, tell me, tell me!" He could hear her jumping around on the wooden floor.

"After I confessed to her, she told me that she loved me too." Yato paused, lowering his voice in a mock whisper, "And we maaay have made out a little bit last night."

"Oooh, scandalous!" She teased, "But really, I'm happy for you. I've been waiting for it to happen ever since you first brought her to meet us." He heard the door open and the low grumbling sound of Daikoku's voice before Kofuku's voice filled the speaker again, "Daikoku! Yato and Yukki are coming home!" She lowered the phone so that everything he heard was muffled before she heard, "We'll see you later tonight, Yato-chan! We're going to start getting everything together to celebrate!"

"Hey, we weren't planning on leaving till tomo—" He heard the sound signaling that the call had ended and he let out another sigh, knowing that once they got started, there was no way he was going to be able to get them to stop. He moved back to Hiyori's number on his phone

 _Hey Hiyori… change in plans_

She answered fairly quickly this time.

 **What do you mean? I'm out of class, eating lunch so I can talk for a little bit.**

 _I called Kofuku and she and Daikoku got started on one of their celebration kicks so they expect Yukine and I to be back there tonight_

He stared at his phone, noticing she was taking her time to reply. Finally, a new text popped up on his screen.

 **That's okay. Don't worry about it.**

 _Hope youre not too disappointed. Just remember all you have to do is call me and I can be here within a few seconds!_

 **I wanted to roll my eyes, but you know, that actually is kind of nice.**

He frowned at the rolling her eyes part, "Of course it is." He said out loud as he typed the same response and hit the send button. Getting no response after a few minutes, he sent another question.

 _You told Yukine right?_

 **Yeah, he has sort of mixed feelings but I made sure to let him know he's welcome to stay here whenever he wants to.**

 _You never told me that._

 **You have to ask first.**

He squinted at his phone. _What? Why?_

 **Because you're a lot more distracting.**

He wanted to be offended until he considered an alternate meaning. _Oh I see what you mean~_

 **Ughhhh I didn't even mean it in that way! Though I guess that's somewhat true too…**

 _Hiyori you flatter me ^_^_

 **I'm gonna go. See you when we get home.**

Yato left it at that, deciding that he'd probably teased her enough unless he wanted to get punched again in the near future. His attention went back to the TV, but the news had been replaced by a talk show. "Bleh." He stuck out his tongue, reflexively reaching for the remote. Sometimes they were okay, but most of the time they were just so boring and today definitely seemed to be one of those days.

He found two dramas to watch and that lasted for a little while, but soon all he could find were infomercials. "Uuuughhhh." He sprawled out onto the floor and groaned before flipping open his phone, "And it's still only 10:30…" After a minute of running through the things he could do, he remembered that he hadn't added Hiyori back on Twitter yet, "Oh, there we go."

Over the past few years, he'd actually kept a pretty good track record of _not_ checking up on her, mostly because he knew that it would be too tempting to seek her out. However, he did have two low points where he made a fake profile and followed her just to see that she was okay. During those times that he'd checked, he'd mostly only seen posts about school as well as her favorite martial artist, Touno. Though he did catch a photo from her high school graduation that she was tagged in by one of her friends and that nearly brought him to tears for multiple reasons.

Clicking the follow button, he received a notification that the account owner would have to verify his request. "I would hope that she'd accept it." He mumbled, but he never knew with Hiyori. She'd blocked him multiple times regardless of whether or not they saw each other in person. He was mostly at fault, considering he messaged her almost 24/7, but she also seemed to start taking pleasure in how much it bothered him whenever she did it.

He flipped his phone shut again and laid his head down on the floor, looking up at the infomercial about some sort of exercise machine. Lazily flipping the channel a few more times, he found another talk show and stopped, "I guess that's better than nothing." He shifted his arms to make a pillow for himself and shortly into the show, started drifting off again.

When he woke up, he blinked his eyes open and looked up to the TV to see another infomercial, "Damn, that's ridiculous." He never really had a reason to sit around and watch it all day, and now he knew he didn't want to. Even though he and Kofuku watched a bit in the morning, Yato always had some sort of job of his own going on or else Daikoku and Yukine would force him into doing something for the shop.

He looked down at his bandaged hand, "Guess I need Yukine to make some flyers for me again since my hand's still messed up." It'd stopped hurting for the most part but he certainly didn't want to accidentally cause the wound to re-open again. "Speaking of Yukine…" He picked his phone up from the floor and checked the time, seeing 1:47 at the top of the screen, "Good, they'll be back soon." He sat up and his stomach immediately gurgled, "Oh, yeah, it's definitely time for lunch."

He ate another one of his one-of-everything sandwiches, purposely eating a little bit slower in order to waste more time rather than actually taking Hiyori's advice (although that crossed his mind, too). Finding himself with a little less than an hour to go before they got back, he decided on fixing up Hiyori's apartment for entertainment. After all, he cleaned for people all the time.

When she and Yukine finally came through the door, they announced loudly, "We're back!"

"Welcome back!" He greeted cheerfully, still wiping down the living room table.

Lowering the grocery bags in her arms, Hiyori looked at him with wide eyes, "Did you… did you clean?"

"Yep! I know you said to not keep score and all that, but I figured I should repay you at least a little bit for letting us stay here." He dropped the rag he was using and lowered his voice, mumbling, "Plus I was kinda bored so…it killed time."

"I'm impressed. I thought you were gonna waste the day." Yukine took his arm full of groceries into the kitchen and placed them on the counter.

He shook his head, "Almost, but I managed to be somewhat productive."

"Thank you." She smiled softly before turning to join Yukine in the kitchen, directing him where to put things.

Once Yato had put back all of the things he used to clean, he leaned over the kitchen counter, "So, Hiyori, are you going to let me follow you on Twitter?"

"For now." She answered simply, continuing to put things up.

He grinned, "Well, that's not a no, at least."

With her back to him, Hiyori asked quietly, "So how much longer before you leave for Kofuku's."

He straightened himself out though kept his palms resting on the counter, "Soon, I guess. Or else it'll be harder to leave." He rounded the corner, "But let's be honest, we'll probably be back tomorrow." He leaned in towards her ear and whispered, "Or I can just come back later tonight, too."

She elbowed him in the stomach and walked past him, answering loudly, "You're right, I guess I shouldn't get too upset."

Yato held his thighs and he hunched over, whining, "Owww."

"Things are definitely back to normal…" Yukine commented with a shake of his head before walking out of the kitchen, "I guess I'll go get our stuff."

"Psst, Hiyori." Yato stood up again and she gave him a questioning look. He gripped her forearm lightly and spun her towards him, leaning towards her and questioning in a sweet tone, "Please? Before we go?"

She caught on to what he meant and blushed, agreeing sheepishly, "Alright, alright…." She leaned into him and let him close the distance between them, his hand cupping the side of her face. The kiss was light and gentle, but she still felt just as many butterflies fluttering in her chest as she had the night before.

Hearing Yukine coming back, she pulled away quickly, nearly pulling Yato's arm out of its socket in the process. "Why do you keep hurting me?" He pouted and rubbed his arm sorely.

"I didn't mean to that time, I'm sorry." She reached out, touching his arm gently.

"You shouldn't ever mean it." He pulled away and crossed his arms.

She crossed hers as well, "Well sometimes you deserve it."

Yukine stepped between them, his arm full of clothes, "Okaaay, time to take it back down a notch. Let's leave on a good note." He turned to Hiyori, "Thanks for letting us stay with you Hiyori. And for letting me go to your classes with you and everything else."

"You're welcome, Yukine-kun. I had a lot of fun hanging out with you again." She smiled brightly.

Yato let out a breath and reached out to touch her shoulder, "Thanks, Hiyori. I'll work really hard to make your wish come true." He gave a wink.

She shook her head but laughed, closing her eyes, "Thank you."

"Don't forget, just a phone call away." He held up his phone and she nodded.

"I know."

"We'll see you soon." Yato flipped open his phone and he and Yukine disappeared into a bright light.


End file.
